What's wrong with my tomatoes?

[PJW_Letchworth]

Hi all,

It's been age since I've posted here.  Could someone tell me what could be wrong with my tomatoes please?  Is it the dreaded blight?

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/gallery/5417_29_08_08_1_56_19.jpg[/img]]

Could whatever this is cause problems with my plants in my garden?  I have banana plants which are my pride and joy and I don't want anything to happen to them.

[PJW_Letchworth]

[Barnowl]

I'm sorry it does look very like blight.

There's a very scary page here ....

http://www.avrdc.org/photos/tomato_diseases/index.html

Have the stems developed black marks?

[thegreatgardener]

Could be blight but it also could be something worse looking at your pictures.

[Barnowl]

TGG - please explain..

[davyw1]

That IS blight and nothing comes more scary.

[PJW_Letchworth]

Now you're scaring me, worse than blight!  :o

The stems are fine and so are other fruits on the same plant and even the same truss.  A few of the leaves look a little manky but that looks more like they have been scorched.

What should I do?  Cut my losses and dispose of the plant or risk keeping it?

[davyw1]

PJW. Take my word for  it is BLIGHT you will have to check every plant and remove any infected fruit and leaves. You can spray but that is up to you.

[Barnowl]

I agree with Davy.  (If TGG is thinking of spotted wilt that causes distinctive marks that your toms don't have.)

I think a scorched appearance on the leaves is quite common, especially towards the end of the season - not likely be related.  If in doubt cut them off - they're probably not doing much.

Blights will spread. Early blight spreads more slowly than late blight and some tomatoes are more resistant than others.

Opinions differ.  One option is to pick all  the ok fruit now and ripen them elsewhere, disposing of the plant and infected fruit by burning.  Another, if the stems are unaffected. is to cut off the diseased areas a good distance from the obviously infected parts (so your secateurs blades aren't covered in infected material that will then spread to the next pruning site), remove damaged leaves (burn everything you remove including any damaged fruit) and keep your fingers crossed. Spraying with Bordeaux mixture may help prevent it spreading. This latter will be a waste of time if it is full on late blight, but there do seem to be other forms around that are relatively slow moving.

Disinfect your secateurs before using them again.

[OllieC]

Good to see you post again PJW...  :)

As said, it's blight, and it's pretty well advanced. I give up at that stage, unless you have any plants where the fruit is a bit happier... I'd suggest picking it off and trying to ripen it indoors. Or frying them green, or chutney...

[PJW_Letchworth]

Hi all,

Thanks for the info.  I think I'll start of trying to remove the sick bits of the plant but if I notice anything on the others, then it's good bye plants hello dustbin.  I don't like spraying as I try to do everything organic where ever possible.  What should I use to clean up afterwards?  The plants are in growbags so I assume all of this should be dumped properly and not recycled in my household green waste wheelie bin?

Do you know if it will affect my plants in the garden?  I'm assuming not but I can't help being paranoid.

[Fork]

The blight spores will only live in living tissue....ie,your plants and fruit.

So long as there is no fruit or stem left in your compost you can spread it on the garden or compost it.

Just clean your greenhouse the way you would do normally.

Sorry your crop or some of it has been hit with the blight.Im lucky not to have it in the greenhouse....only had it on my potato haulms which are now long gone.

[PJW_Letchworth]

No greenhouse I'm afraid.  The garden is not big enough.  :(

These toms are outside in a sheltered garden.  Three plants per growbag but I've possibly got the bags a little too close to each other.  Still, I'll know better for next year.

[OllieC]

Mine looked like yours last year, this year we've been very fortunate - picking over a pound of fruit most days for nearly 2 months (from 25 plants). Things I've done differently:
-Sprayed a bit more often with Bordeaux mixture.
-Always made up a new solution of Bordeaux mixture for each application (instead of leaving in the sprayer for a fortnight)
-Staked plants better
-Removed every yellow or brown leaf as soon as spotted
-Had a bit less rain

[PJW_Letchworth]

Good advice that I will be taking on board.

Thanks.

[essexsue]

Gosh that picture looks like my tomatoes - and I had also been wondering what was going on with them.. thanks for posting and the replies have now told me what I should do ..

thank you all


sue x